Locking device for railway-traffic-controlling apparatus.



No. 799,558. PATENTED SEPT. 12, 1905.

' L. GRIFFITH.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS APPLICATION TILED MAR. 31. 1905.

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Inventor %We A ttest I No. 799,558. PATBNTED SEPT. 12, 1905.

v L. GRIFFITH. LOCKING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, 1905.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE GRIFFITH, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1905.

Application filed March. 3-1, 1905. Serial No. 253,047.

To all w/wm it puny concern.-

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE GRIFFITH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the city of Yonkers, county of Westchester, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Locking Devices for Railwayflraffic-Controlling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to railway-.traflic-controlling devices; and its objects are to provide is a detail view of the lockin -rod. Fig. 3 is a top view of a modification. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a top view of the locking-rod and the parts which lock it.

I have shown my invention as adapted to mechanically-operated switch-points; but it will be understood that it is also applicable to other traffic-controlling devices.

In Fig. l the switch-points l and 2 and connecting parts are shown in closed or normal position. The locking-lever 11, with its sys tem of connecting rods and cranks, is adapted to operate in the ordinary way the rod 49.

Its companion switch-lever is not shown; but it will be understood that through rod 16 and the connecting cranks and rods it is adapted to operate the switch-points 1 and 2. Attached to the switch-points and moving with them is the locking-rod 6. Said rod 6 is provided with notches 9 and 10 of different cross-section, as shown in Fig. 2. Rod 49 carries plate 60, adapted to slide in guides on fixed baseplate 61. Upon locking-plate 60 are two projections or abutments 7 and 8,adapted to mesh,

respectively, with notches 9 and 10. Said notches and abutments are so shaped that abutment 7 cannot enter notch 10, nor abutment 8 notch 9. It will thus be seen that when lever 11 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 abutment 7 must be within notch 9, and the switch-points 1 andv 2 thereby locked in normal position, and that as said abutment 7 cannot enter notch 10 it would be impossible to place lever 11 in the position shown in Fig. 1 when the switch-points are in reverse position. The same conditions are also true as to the reverse position of the parts. The position of the lever 11, therefore, is always an indication to the operator of the position of the switch-points. Said rod 49 is also attached in the usual way to the detector-bar 50, so that when a train is on the detector-bar both the switch-points and the lever are locked thereby.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown an improved or modified detector-bar 50. It sometimes happens that the wheels of the train do not project sufficiently beyond the rail 3 to hold the bar 50. I therefore reduce or plane down the head of the rail or rails along which the detector-bar extends and so adjust the parts connected with the detector-bar as to bring it close to said reduced position of the rail, as shown in Fig. 4. Should a rail-joint occur within the length of the detector-bar, the heads of the rail ends should not be reduced; but the bar should be bent or offset, as shown in Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. A look for railway-switch points comprising a rod attached to and moving in correspondence with the switch-points, said rod having two differently-shaped recesses therein, two simultaneously-moving plugs each adapted to be inserted in one only of said recesses, and means independent of the operative means of said rod for inserting and withdrawing one of said plugs in or out of its corresponding recess at each limit of stroke of said rod.

2. In combination with a railway detectorbar, a rail having its head reduced so as to allow said bar to be placed farther beneath a passing wheel.

3. A detector-bar for railways havinga part 5 thereof bent or offset from the remainder thereof.

4. The combination of the meeting ends of two railway-rails, one or both of'said rails having its head reduced a short distance away from the end thereof, with an offset detector- Io bar adapted to work against the larger and smaller heads of the rail or rails.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of March, 1905.

LAWRENCE GRIFFITH. In presence of- FRANCIS L. FIELD, EDMUND E. FIELD, Jr. 

